"the potential for worst evil lies within each one of us"

These are struggles common to us all and illustrate the need for honest identification with the sins of our nation when we stand before God asking for His mercy. Nehemiah and the families with him assembled themselves before the Lord with fasting, in sackcloth and with dust on their heads. Though they were just a remnant, they completely identified with their nation and its history. "Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all the foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers." (Nehemiah 9:2) When we ask for God's mercy on others, we should never say, "How could they do such a thing?" We know exactly how they could do it, for the potential for worst evil lies within each one of us, apart from God's saving grace and the life of Christ within us. "I find then the principle of evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good," Paul said in Romans 7:21.

Source: John Dawson - What Every Christian Should Know About Reconciliation, p. 21